Story of a Team Rocket Recruit
by dokpoke
Summary: This is the story of a girl who's way too interested in Team Rocket, to the point that she recklessly decides to join. (Author's Note: Don't expect this fic to actually be any good.)
1. Chapter 1

Leira stood with her back pressed up against the side of the brick building, as if shrinking away from the wind. In her ears were the harsh notes of Rocket grunts' voices and in her nostrils was the insistent stench of cigarette smoke. They were on a break, standing by Celadon Department Store. Leira was listening in. She stood around the corner and heard the chatter—"I thought we would take care of that old man this time—" "Shut up, you moron! We can't talk about this here." The grunts started whispering and the girl strained to listen.

She loved the conspiratorial conversations of the Rockets. She loved the mischievous errands grunts always seemed involved with, and she envied the dark passion they had for their work. Throughout her years traveling through Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Kanto, Leira had never wanted to play by the rules completely. But any of the things she may have done to rebel were only tiny insubordinations. She imagined some kind of freedom would surely have to come with joining the largest organized crime syndicate in the world. It was these strangely hopeful, romantic thoughts that took over when she would stalk Rockets from around corners, or the time when she followed them and uncovered the Game Corner hideout.

She sighed softly into the wind. For a long time she'd been thinking of joining. However, she had an innate desire to be a "good person," which held her back. No loved ones should have to be disappointed, she should never have to look someone in the eyes and tell them about whatever sick life she was living... These thoughts were common for her as well.

Voices faded away. Leira slid toward the nauseating leftover smoke and stood where the Rockets had. After a moment of deliberation on whether or not she should visit the department store, she decided on walking to the edge of town. The day was dreary and gray and as she began her walk she stared at her shoes, inattentive to the mesmerizingly tall buildings of the shopping district. Her long-ish, straight hair whipped around her face when the wind rose. She pulled her black jacket tighter around her shoulders and shoved her hands in the lime green-decorated pockets.

For the rest of the afternoon Leira walked along the dirt road, out some ways and then back to town. Even in the gloomy weather other trainers came looking for battles. Leira won them all. She wasn't an exceptional trainer, but her brute force attack strategy worked quickly on weak opponents and made for nasty victories when the sides were equally matched.

Just as dusk was turning clouds pink, Leira came back into town. She strolled into the Game Corner's restaurant for dinner. She liked hearing the music emanating from various rooms around the place, and the tinkling of bells and whistles on machines. These were the sounds of people striking gold, hitting it rich; of losing their fortune, risking their life's work for a quick thrill. While sitting at dinner in a dark booth, she noticed a flyer with the big red "R" on it. The other text was unreadable in the dark. At the end of the evening she tore the paper off the wall and shoved it in her bag.

* * *

Author's Note: I made a few edits in grammar and wording since posting the other day. I'll probably do this with quite a few chapters since at this point I'm just trying to write and post every day. Hopefully writing this story will become easier and smoother as the plot progresses!


	2. Chapter 2

Leira made her way into the Pokémon Center. The nurse recognized her and said hello. After a quick healing Leira inquired: "Do you have a room I could use again tonight?" The nurse nodded and smiled, handing over a key. Leira smiled back as she headed down the hall. "Please have a good night!" the nurse called.

The little rooms in the Pokémon Center were "rented" without cost to trainers, so they could have a place to rest at night. This room had a one-person bed, a shelf to set bags and clothes on, and a TV in the corner of the room. Leira set her bag on the shelf, then sat down on the bed and untied her shoes. Soon she was in her pajamas, staring at the flyer she had taken from the Game Corner's restaurant. It was decorated with a simple "R" design in red and small black lettering giving the details.

"Join Team Rocket and serve the greater good!  
Would you like to dominate the world? Do you want to gain money from Pokémon?  
You've come to the right Team! We are always searching for new membership.  
Prerequisites for joining: NONE!  
Come to the Underground Path on Route 7 for the TOP SECRET recruitment!"

The blatant statement of the "secret" location could have been taken as a sign of stupidity, but the Game Corner was entirely Rocket-controlled. No police officers even bothered patrolling on the same street, and these types of signs were ignored by the gamblers and strange people who felt compelled to visit such a place.

Leira had nothing better to do. She decided to go the next day to be recruited. And that night, she had a difficult time falling asleep.

* * *

The next morning she woke up groggy, at least until the rustle of paper when she moved flooded her memory. Suddenly she bolted upright, snatching the paper from under her pillow to examine it. Quickly she went to one of the bathrooms to shower and get dressed. Soon she was eating breakfast at the nicest restaurant in town, sneaking some for her Pokémon. After a walk to the Underground Path Leira traversed the metal stairs into darkness.

The path ahead was, abnormally, pitch black. Leira grabbed a Poké Ball and threw it, as if combating the suffocating lack of light. Her Vulpix growled cutely and created a will-o'-wisp of flame which floated forward to light the way.

They moved along cautiously to the middle of the path. Vulpix yipped and pointed with its mouth at the wall. "Huh?" Leira nervously glanced at the wall, then looked all around to make sure they were alone. She peered more closely at the wall. After a moment she found the faint raised square shape Vulpix was pointing at. "Hmm..." She tried to find a seam along the edge, then poked at the center of the square. Suddenly it clicked into the wall and the panel slid like a rotating door. "Come on, Vulpix," she said, more to calm herself than anything.

They squeezed past the opening and found themselves in another hallway with a single yellowish light at the far end. Slowly Leira made her way toward it. When she was close enough to see the form of a woman slumped in a chair, lit by a lamp on the wall, the figure stirred. She woke up and was on her feet instantly.


	3. Chapter 3

"Who are you?" she boomed. The woman was not especially tall, but still she seemed formidable. "Oh, somebody here to infiltrate our base." Her teeth were already gritted even though she was less than a moment out of a nap. She tore a Poké Ball from the belt of her uniform and held it out like a weapon.

A look of skittish fear came across Leira's face. She stammered out an answer. "N-no! I'm here for recruitment!" The woman, in answer, lowered her Poké Ball-holding hand. Her demeanor lightened considerably.

"You don't look like the type. Sorry." She brushed her hair over one shoulder. "I have to ask you a couple of questions. First, what's your reason for joining? In general terms."

"Well..." Leira realized she didn't exactly have a good reason. She decided she had no choice but to state her feelings. "I want adventure and excitement, I guess. And I've had enough of gyms and fair-and-square battles. I'd like to be a part of something important, and something that's not ordinary."

The woman stared skeptically with one brow raised. Then she chuckled to herself. "I guess if that's what you're looking for, you may find it here." Then she focused again and her rigidness returned. "It sounds like you want to live in the team's glory days. There's no big boss anymore, kid. It's more difficult being a Rocket now. Still want to join?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then. I'm Maria. From now on you'll think of me as your recruitment officer. That is, if you do well, tell everyone about me so I'll get a promotion. Otherwise tell them Daren recruited you." She grumbled to herself: "Maybe they'll finally fire him." She became lost in thought for a moment while Leira looked on expectantly. Finally Maria turned and shook hands with the girl. "Call that thing back into its Ball," she gestured toward Vulpix. Leira fumbled and returned it. "Now let's go and get you set up."

Maria went to the right toward a heavy, black, metal door. She unlocked it with a 4-digit typed code, then marched right into the dark room. When Leira hesitated she commanded, "Come on." Leira walked in with care, as if afraid the floor would collapse beneath her. A few very dim lights flicked on and she made her way to the center of the square room. Maria was standing near a machine in one corner.

"One other thing has to happen before you're officially a member." Maria nodded, and a grunt materialized from the darkness to Leira's right. He grabbed her bag and ripped through it to find her trainer card, which he tossed to Maria. She ran it through the machine, which was apparently some kind of card-scanner.

She threw it back to Leira. "Think of it as a down payment. Or a one-time membership fee."

The confused girl examined her card. The digital readout of her riches reported she had 0 dollars to her name. A dull panic set in. She had always had some money. Even when she first left home, her parents gave her some to start with. But rather than protesting, Leira realized that since she was joining a gang of liars and thieves, she would have to consider herself lucky for losing something so immaterial as money.

Maria noticed the agitated expression on her new recuit's face and smiled with immature glee. She barely made an effort to compose herself before speaking again. "Let's go. Beyond this door"—she opened another door on her side of the room—"is our entire Route 7 operation." She opened the door and made her way through, followed by Leira.

The brownish layer of dust on walls gave the place a real underground vibe. Incandescent lighting warmed the goings-on of hustling, bustling people and made them seem busier than they actually were. Officers walked fast with questioning grunts trailing behind them. A smell of dirt from everyone's shoes stuck in Leira's nose.

They stood standing amid the confusion for a moment, until a young girl in uniform squeezed between two officers and bounced over to them. "There you are, Krista," Maria said. She spoke to Krista in much kinder tones. "Take Leira to a room to wait for her first assignment."

"Aye-aye, captain." Krista even did a mock salute. She grabbed Leira by the wrist and took off, dragging her down a hallway.


	4. Chapter 4

A little ways down the hall, Krista stopped at one door and threw it open. The two went inside. "Okay! Here's where you'll hang out for a little while. See you!" The door banged shut behind her.

Leira was alone in a small room, sparsely decorated with two small beds and one lamp. She sat down on a bed and gazed around the drab room for a minute. Then, remembering her trainer card, she pulled it out and regarded it, wondering if she'd be able to make some money back. How well did a Team Rocket job pay?

It was quite a while before the dynamic, twin-tailed girl Krista came back. In her time waiting, Leira brought out Vulpix to play with. Finally the door exploded open again. Krista stood holding a tape measure. She noticed Vulpix and glared at it disapprovingly. "Oh, sorry," Leira returned the Pokémon.

"It's okay." She waved away whatever annoyance she felt with a little movement of her hand. "I was gone a long time. But now, take off your sweater. I have to measure you for a uniform." She started looking for the end of the tape.

The measuring process was surprisingly detailed. Even Leira's hat size ended up written on a page of notes Krista had brought. "I didn't know Team Rocket was so particular about uniform size."

"The sizing of these outfits is really weird. If they don't fit exactly, they look completely stupid. Trust me," she said with an absurdly-exasperated shrug. She pulled the tape measure away for the last time, and snatched up her notebook and pencil. "Okay, so you'll stay here again until I come back. After that you'll get to leave with your new assignment. Isn't that exciting?"

Her tone of voice made her last inquiry seem like sarcasm, or at least a rhetorical question. But staring directly into Krista's expectantly cheery face prompted Leira to answer with a nod. "Yeah! So I'll see you later." The girl in uniform nearly danced out the door.

Leira took her sweater off the bed and decided to tie it around her waist. She sat down and messed with her Pokédex for a few minutes. Then Krista came back, unexpectedly after just a few minutes. "Here you go!" She held out an official-looking manila envelope. "That's got a card for you to deliver—counterfeit, of course," with a conspiratorial grin, "and instructions for how to do it. Have fun! And you'd better get moving quick, make a good first impression on the boss."

She opened the door and let Leira out first, then led her back the way she came in. When they reached that door she abruptly twirled around and squeezed back into the crowd. Leira walked back out of the tunnel. In daylight she examined the contents of the envelope: a green-and-white card, with no text or other markings on it, and a hastily-scrawled piece of notebook paper. On the paper were instructions, in sloppy handwriting, telling Leira her destination.


	5. Chapter 5

She memorized the directions carefully. "Silph Co., 4th floor...pretend to kidnap a guy...?" In an exasperated motion she placed her hand on her forehead. "What did I get myself into?" She repeated the question as she broke into laughter. "This is it now." Her expression settled into a satisfied smile. She knew there was no time to waste, though.

She called Staraptor out and hopped on the Pokémon's back. "Take us to Silph's front door."

They arrived quickly. The city was busy in the sunny day, and Leira went unnoticed as she returned Staraptor and walked through the glass doors. The bottom floor was clean and tidy, with pristine tile floors, lush potted plants, and a decorative fountain. The receptionist at the front desk was the only person in the room. She looked surprised when she saw Leira. "Do you have an appointment?" she said in a practiced tone. Leira, unsure of what to do, took steps straight toward the elevator. The woman picked up the phone as a worried look began to spread across her face.

"Wait!" Leira panicked. How to stop her? "Don't do that. Come on." The woman began dialing quickly while eyeing her. Leira felt backed into a corner. Would she have to use force, and if so what would work in this situation? She tried to focus solely on that problem for a moment, ignoring the woman's growing suspicions or her wary looks. Then she had it, the spark of a quick idea. She picked a Ball from her arsenal and sent out Kricketune. "The phone cord! Cut it before she dials!" The Pokémon sped forward and, missing the cord, slashed the telephone's console in half. The woman shot out of her seat and backed up to the wall in a knee-jerk reaction, also dropping the now-dead phone.

Leira wordlessly returned Kricketune in a flash of light and ran to the elevator. Once inside she enjoyed the quiet room for only a moment before pressing the button for 4F. As she ascended the instructions of her mission played over again in her mind. This brought to her attention the rush in her ears and the adrenaline flooding her entire being. Her knees shook slightly, but as soon as the doors slid open she started a stride so as not to betray her nerves.

Everyone in the room, all businesspeople in white shirts and ties, turned to look as she came in. The several faces peered outwards from their cubicles. After a few of her strides, Leira had to stop. The room was fairly small. She knew she had to find a certain man, but which one was it? She had no way of knowing. That is, until someone across the room nonchalantly lifted his coffee cup and nodded towards her as he took a drink. She started toward him, stopping awkwardly when she reached his cubicle. He stared up from his seat at her.

She was supposed to get him alone to hand the card over and receive further instruction, but he was not helping at all. Finally, to spare much more awkwardness, she grabbed his shirt collar and said to the room, "I'm taking this guy. I'm not gonna bother the rest of you as long as you don't come after me." She ran back to the elevator, not noticing her grip breaking and the guy left standing in the middle of the room. At the door she realized the absence of his collar in her grip and turned back to him. "Hey! Get in here!" She grabbed a random Ball from her belt loop and held it up in a gesture she hoped was menacing. The guy followed her into the elevator, putting on an effectively pathetic stance. Apparently none of his coworkers had the ability or desire to save him, because they all watched him go with vaguely relieved expressions.

Once the doors closed the guy turned to her. "I'm Mark."

"H-hi." She stood for a minute, her body turned stiff when adrenaline receded. "Oh. Here's this." She produced the card and handed it to Mark. He pressed a button on the elevator.

"1F," he turned back to her and spoke. "After you drop me off there, you'll go out the back of this elevator to the storage room on 3F. From there you'll Fly out the window, got it?"

It was only now that Leira noticed the elevator opened from both ends. She nodded. "Uh, this was easier than I thought." She gave a nervous laugh.

Mark scratched the back of his head. "What you did today was blow my cover. I would get reassigned and you'd get fired. Luckily they were already reassigning me. This is my last day working here."

"I did that badly? This was my first job..." Leira nearly teared up. The elevator came to a stop and the door opened.

"Everyone messes up on their first mission. You succeeded anyway. You got this to me." He held the card between his fingers. "Now one last instruction from the boss. Once you leave here you'll go to the Pokémon Center in this town. Tell the nurse your friend's in room 17 and you're visiting her." He stepped out of the elevator. "You're doing fine!" He yelled back incautiously, even though the receptionist was still likely cowering in fear by her desk.

As the doors closed Leira remembered to press 3F. She found the button which switched the door mechanism so the door behind her would open. She then turned around and the elevator dinged to open.

Leira stepped into a dark room filled with cardboard boxes, likely full of office supplies. There was one window at the end of the room with a big pane of glass in it. Blue sky showed through. As she walked up to the window she examined the outside. There was a building below, only one story tall. With a bounce of a Ball onto the floor, Staraptor emerged. It used Aerial Ace to cut the glass diagonally, shattering the bottom half. The two flew out and soared over the city.


	6. Chapter 6

Leira peered down from Staraptor's back, turning her head from side to side in search of the Pokémon Center. Her hair blew in the wind and the close sunlight gave her normally mousy hair a faint copper tint. She remembered to grab her beret-style hat off her head so it wouldn't fall off. "Let's land there," she told Staraptor when the red roof came into her view. Staraptor set down a couple of meters directly in front of the glass door of the Center. She tried to act natural in hopping off the Pokémon and returning the bird to its Ball. Then she walked through the door, trying to assure herself that this would be the easy part. The only difficulty was in meeting a new, mysterious person in the occupant of room 17.

She waited behind a young trainer healing his Pokémon before stepping up to the nurse's desk. "Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon Center!" The nurse beamed. "May I heal your Pokémon?"

Leira gave her the Balls, and the young nurse ran them through the machine. "By the way, I have a friend staying in room 17. She told me to tell the front desk so I could go see her."

"Oh, sure. Go ahead back. It should be a door on the left." She pointed down a hallway halfway behind the big desk. Leira thanked her and took off down the nicely-furnished passage.

Once she reached the door she stopped and put her ear to it. No sound traveled through. She knocked. "Yes?" a voice from inside.

"Uhh, hello. I'm...your friend! I'm here to visit you." She nearly dropped to a whisper at the last part, putting her hands around her mouth and speaking to a crack in the door.

It opened and the teenage girl on the other side gave a look of faint annoyance. She was taller than Leira and had a serious face. Everything about her appearance fit the image of a person who took themselves too seriously: short near-black hair and dark brown eyes, with eyebrows set into a naturally angry expression.

When she spoke, too, her voice was low and her words seemed carefully-pronounced. "Come in," she said, stepping back and holding the door open.

* * *

Author's Note: I gave the main character a hat because Pokémon games always give the main character a hat! On another note, this chapter's really short, but I hope to make future ones longer.


	7. Chapter 7

Leira followed the girl, who closed the door behind them. This room was fairly large like a hotel room. It was split into two smaller rooms by a wall in the middle, with a bed and dresser in each room. One side of the room already had the girl's belongings in it. From the way items were neatly put away, it looked as though she was preparing to stay in the room for a while. Near the door were a couple of comfy chairs.

"My name's Renee. Are you Laura?" she struggled for a millisecond and found the wrong name.

"Leira." Renee went to the bag setting on her bed and and began sorting through it and pulling things out.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. Then she brought out a few papers and held them out to Leira. "These are our instructions and an overview of our mission. They were just sent to me today. It looks like we'll be here for a week." She waited patiently while Leira read.

The overview sheet had the simple version of their mission. "Steal three Pokémon. Growlithe are the top priority, with fire types being secondary and all others still accepted (except Zubat)." The explicit instructions detailed a few locations to go searching and guidelines to follow concerning attire and standard methods of operation. Leira scanned them quickly. As she started to hand them back, Renee told her to keep them. She had copies of her own.

* * *

Author's Note: This chapter is embarrassingly short. When I sat down to write, it took forever to get even this many words down. I should be able to think better tomorrow.


End file.
